Hetal Joshi | Hetal Nagaraj

2019 Anantha Dance Production – Journey to Infinite Possibilities in Dance Forms – Jan 2019.

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Anantha–1 (2019): The Beginning of Grace And Grooves’ Indian Dance Classical – Production Series

Anantha – Infinite Possibilities Within Indian Classical Dance and Traditional Dance Forms.

Following the success of Grace And Grooves’ annual recitals 2016, 2017 and 2018, Anantha–1 marked the beginning of an exclusive dance production series dedicated to showcasing the beauty, elegance, creativity, and limitless possibilities of Indian dance traditions while preserving their authentic foundations.

The production featured Bharatanatyam, Indian Folk Dances, Rabindra Nritya, Manipuri, and Kathak presentations, demonstrating how innovation can flourish without compromising classical technique or cultural authenticity.

About Anantha Dance Production’s Creation —

Venue –

January 27, 2019
Courtyard Theater
Plano, Texas, USA

The production was presented to a full-house audience for dance time of 4 hours.

A Milestone in Bharatanatyam Education

One of the defining achievements of Anantha–1 was the completion of the Bharatanatyam Margam by:

These students not only performed but right after the production, completed their duet arangetram as a milestone of completion!

Under the exclusive guidance of Hetal Joshi Nagaraj, they performed nearly the entire traditional repertoire, including:

  • Pushpanjali
  • Alarippu
  • Jatiswaram
  • Shabdam
  • Creative Bharatanatyam repertoire
  • Copyright-authorized choreography
  • Rabindra Nritya
  • Tillana

Presented across approximately three hours of continuous performance, this achievement demonstrated that a comprehensive curriculum-based performance can serve as an alternative pathway to showcasing mastery while preserving the integrity of traditional training.

This also marked Hetal Nagaraj’s second complete Bharatanatyam Margam graduation cycle as Guru and Teacher.
Developing Future Performing Arts Professionals

Anantha extended learning beyond dancers by providing practical production experience to young artists in technical and leadership roles. These opportunities reflected Grace And Grooves’ commitment to preparing students for careers across the performing arts ecosystem—not only as performers, but also as creative professionals.

Production Company Affiliates –

Anantha–1, In House Company Production was presented by Grace And Grooves in association with:

There are no tickets for these productions because —
outsiders or those who do not belong to company or are not the students or parents of the company — are usually not allowed.
This is just for company’s internal activities and yearly students and Official Brands of Hetal Joshi Nagaraj and various shoots are usually before or after the program, certificates and milestones are awarded and rewarded in these programs.
Students in these production dance for themselves as a completion of their levels as a graduation.
Tickets may be available if Hetal Joshi Nagaraj allows it pertaining to seating arrangements. Tickets are through http://www.graceandgrooves.com.
It becomes challenging to have public audiences for company’s own internal company activities.

Auditions are deliberately made strict to avoid any external setbacks.

Anantha represents Grace And Grooves’ vision of combining traditional Indian performing arts, curriculum-based education, creative innovation, cultural preservation, and professional production standards—proving that when fundamentals are respected, the possibilities are truly Anantha—infinite.
Special Features of Anantha 2019 Dance Production were –
  1. Specifically prepared for the show – The Setty Siblings Shiva Series.
  2. Ashna’s Special Appearance by her ISD program Choir Singing.
  3. The Settys Special Apperance of Shlokas by Hanuman Temple Youth Teams, Frisco, Texas, USA.
  4. Elites Of Hetal Joshi Nagaraj had their special showcase of Indian Folk Dances under the instruction, direction and supervision of Hetal Joshi Nagaraj.
  5. Rang Folk Dance Production was introduced in this production
  6. Model Productions Shoot were initiated with this production.
  7. PR Shoots were initiated with this production.
Thillana, Shabdam by Hetal Nagaraj
Jatiswaram and Pushpanjali by Hetal Nagaraj
Rabindra Nruthya, Allaripu by Hetal Nagaraja
Indian Folk Dances, Dances of East India
Indian Folk Dances from North Indian
Indian Folk Dances from South by Performing Team with their own choreography…congratulations!!
Indian Folk Dances from the Western India
Congratulations Samarth Setty And Tejaswini for completing their entire Bharatantyam Margam in one show
Introducing Choreographer, New Program of Kathak And Manipuri –

Anantha–1 also introduced Ms. Rinku Bhattacharya Das to the Grace And Grooves performing teams, audiences and students.

Ms. Rinku is a trained artist in Classical-Kathak and Classical-Manipuri, Ms. Rinku collaborated with Hetal Joshi Nagaraj to explore the integration and future development of Kathak and Manipuri classical dance forms within Grace And Grooves’ Program Catalog with full curriculum and production repertoire in near future.

Ms. Rinku’s participation reflected the Grace And Grooves’s commitment to expanding authentic Indian classical dance offerings while preserving the integrity and fundamentals of each tradition.

About Ms. Rinku. The program later was dissolved on mutual consent because of unavailability of Ms. Rinku.

Constant Efforts –
It has been constant efforts by Ms. Hetal Joshi Nagaraj to offer various dance forms, activities and programs that she herself does not specialize in to strengthen the spectrum of Performing Arts and provide exposure to artists from all walks of life.
  1. Grace And Grooves Company’s Platform
  2. Hetal Joshi Nagaraj Platform, Grace And Grooves Corp promos and own such other.
  3. Rang Folk Dance Productions By Hetal Joshi Nagaraj
  4. Sarva Folk Dance Productions By Hetal Joshi Nagaraj
  5. Anantha Classical Dance Productions by Hetal Joshi Nagaraj.
  6. March Madness Recitals By Hetal Joshi Nagaraj
  7. Drama Recitals By Hetal Joshi Nagaraj.
  8. Model Productions By Hetal Joshi Nagaraj.
  9. Shoot Productions Exclusive for PR, as of July 31, 2026.
  10. List of In House Dance Productions with LIVE Audiences, Stage and Recitals of Hetal Joshi Nagaraj.

972 979 2559.

Website : www.graceandgrooves.com

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/GraceAndGrooves

Post Edited on July 31, 2026 with new links of digital media platforms.

— Do not copy any word, concept or any ideology, verbiage, picture , any clip or dance, or any wordings of Ms Hetal as it is full trademarked, some copyright received and some ip too, by country – 2012-current

#hetaljoshim #graceandgrooves #ananthaseries

Journey of Master In Fine Arts….Submitted By Hetal Nagaraj.

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August 2016 : We were excited to hear the news that Hetal Nagaraj got accepted for Masters Program at TDES via Tamil University in August 2016. College:  Kalai Kaveri College of Fine Arts, Trichy, India.

A label & ID of OKC213160083A was given to her as Hetal Mahesh Joshi. She would mock to her students that she got her roll-number/student id too and that she is student too. Some of her students started calling her Hetal since then :).

University ID LOL

This makes us laugh for 2 reasons. First reason is, a very non-traditional picture-LOL. 2. Our owner was a student, not long ago 😛

Her inspiration of having a master degree in fine arts comes directly from one of her own cousin’s spouse/bhabhi (sister in law & aunt-2way relation:) who was enrolled in Masters Program @Darpana Academy, Ahmedabad India. Her Bhabhi had to leave her degree half-way for personal reasons and since then, Hetal Nagaraj had her mind set on doing Masters in either bharatnatyam, or theater with full dance work, at some point of time.

name checks..
course attachements
final year dissertations

Finding a university or dance program that not only offers robust MASTERS program of Bharatnatyam but also offers in-depth knowledge of Natya Shashtra, History, Styles, Theaters and Musicals with the flexibility of long distance program was a challenge. Hetal Nagaraj got accepted in 2 universities for this program with her dance experience, video clips of main margam, creative bharatnatyam dances, direct referral letters from her past dance teachers and her existing Master Degrees in other education stream that she already had. Rest all the universities had a requirement to do a full 2 year resident program and stay local for full two years with classes non-stop through the week and weekend! For those in India or want to pursue their degree in India for on-campus degrees within India, most welcome to contact Hetal Nagaraj:info@graceandgrooves.com, she’ll be very happy to guide you for all these courses.

Masters of Bharatnatyam

Master Of Fine Arts Year1

Biggest Challenge for Hetal Nagaraj was that she can’t just leave a young family and pursue dreams while running a full fledge A+ rating dance business with multiple locations, competitive performance schedules (almost every other month) in Bharatnatyam, Indian Folk Dances, Bollywood, Workshops, Elite performing team and all of that with her students taking part in competitions. Once you are married happily ever-after & have family, it is a package for whole family to achieve something as big as degree especially if parents are taking them; irrespective of whether or not you are in dance business! Whole family goes hand in hand to actually make it happen. Entire month of kids activities, planning meals for whole family, routines with home works, car-pooling, classes shuffled between choreographers as applicable in her absence, volunteer parents, website maintenance and it was STAAR Exam time for kids as well.

Bharatnatyam, Bharatanatyam

Break Time between classes…..all these are her classmates and they have dance businesses of their own in and out of India. Some in USA as well.

TDES via Tamil University gave her the options to not only be competitive at learning edge but flexibility to travel to Chennai for at-least one out of two degree years to give on-campus bharatnatyam theory exams, assignments, thesis/research,  presentations, do practical exams, live concert, musical and folk dance drama to be showcased before the teachers for grading.

All these dances were with full makeup and relevant costumes and costume change as required. Further, she decided to choose her degree location at Don Bosco College of Arts And Science, Chennai, India as her on-campus exam training (1 month required in person or average of 20-days) and examinations (practical and theory, in person). She decided Chennai as her location considering that Tamil History was one of the main subject and so she wanted to stay around Chennai to complete her research subject from locally available sources such as libraries, bookstores and visits to local dance schools. Don Bosco College of Arts And Science was her pick from the list due to her past upbringing of Convent Schools in Gandhinagar(India) and then affiliated programs at Ahmedabad(India) due to its discipline, environment, experiences and education standards.

Masters In Bharatnatyam

ConcertPaper, Folk Dance Drama

At first the initial plan was to go in second year. Plans changed when the syllabus arrived in Fedex from university with a whopping 22 dance items to take care of, showcase them, write 1 research paper each year, minimum of 2 assignments per year, minimum of 1 presentation per year, LIVE concert, nattuvangam, talam, ragam and Tamil History with all terms in Tamil. It was her husband Nagaraj who insisted that with this type of syllabus, she should take this as an opportunity and must go personally both the years, just like any student would do for each year in any other Masters Program.

Bharatnatyam, Master of Fine Arts

@Don Bosco School of Arts And Science canteen…break time between classes…fun food and lovely people.

The dance items and other master level dances required hours of practices and a mentor/guide to correct/remind as required because of complexity in choreography. They were in speed 2, 3 and 4 at a cutting edge but not a sweet cherry on the top, most in 3 and 4!

It isn’t for a regular bharatnatyam dancer who is barely trained and could still handle that type of work with that intense choreography.  Complexity with speed 3 and 4 was tough nut after a long time for Hetal Nagaraj.

She learned latest concepts in Bharatanatyam which she had never learned or were not taught in North India probably because back then these were taught @post-arangetram level only. Most of these concepts were added to standard margam by Kalakshetra Foundation founded by Rukmani Devi, Chennai and by renowned Bharatanatyam Artists in multiple styles.

Thus the degree curriculum included Main Margam Items, Non-Margam Items as well as Additional Creative Choreography from renowned artist of  Mysore Bani, Pandanallur Bani, Thanjavur Bani and Kalakshetra Bani margam as a compulsory LIVE concert-all of this with grading. While Vazhuvur Bani was one of the sub-topic for Mrs. Hetal Nagaraj as part of her research/dissertation. She took several skype/watsapp video classes from her guide Dr. Marie Stella who taught and corrected her for the possibilities in margam bharatnatyam dances with nattuvangam.

MargamPerformance w/Folk

Mrs.Hetal Joshi Nagaraj also took in-person classes with Dr. Marie Stella at Pondicherry where Dr. Marie Stella runs her own Dance Institute Kalai Aalayam Fine Arts Academy. Their group performed various items of margams, folk and solo bharatnatyam master works.

Her journey to full month stay at training and exam center for both the years were absolutely amazing! She stepped into this whole new world of Bharatnatyam with the infinite possibilities and complexities in southern India.

From what she thought would be questionable to do in various margam dances was NOW possible in unlimited combinations further. This experience opened a whole new creativity level in musicals, dance themes, concepts, usage of jatis and adavus in various permutations and combinations.

She implemented those concepts and was able to successfully use them not only in Bharatnatyam but in Indian Folk Dances and Bollywood/Tollywood/Indian Movie Dances of Grace And Grooves LLC giving exceptionally beautiful results with least amount of effort even for Bharatnatyam.

Masters in bharatnatyam

Thesis, Myselfie, concertpaper2

It took her 2 full years (2016 to 2018) for her to complete her degree in Masters In Fine Arts with whole family involved. This includes all our lovely students’ parents  of our private classes who walked with her in her journey very beautifully as she had to meet her deadlines of submissions or had her parallel skype classes.

With the type of knowledge that she gained in practical classes (skype/video watsapp/in person @Pondicherry) with her guide Dr. Marie Stella and during monthly in-house trainings, she thanks god that it did not happen in a click of button.

It would be too much for human brain to absorb all that, if it were to happen! She thanks her Tamil friends’ grand-parents (who were bharatnatyam dancers themselves) who helped her with very old tamil dialects for her theory papers that required compulsory usage of these words for grading. A lot of her regional tamil friends from chennai as well found it difficult to explain or understand these terms. All of that happened for Hetal Nagaraj for both the years back to back, one year at a time with proper planning.

Don’t even wish for a degree in 1 day with a click of a button. It is not going to help you! It is the training from all the right people that will never fail you and that you will not experiment on students because you have studied each scenario with pros and cons & thus it is available for you to use in your own creative way, very very safely!

Just that common sense is something that no university will ever teach you and to master that you will have to let go your ego ;). This is irrespective of your age!

Planning

80 Seperate School Lunches(2 kids), 40 dinners combined for 4 people, 40 lunches for huby/mil(combined 2 ppl), 25 breakfast(2 ppl), and extra 10 dishes here and there. There are similar bento boxes behind the line you see in the picture. 2017 too, similar preps and this year pretty much same plan but with MIL present, it was easier.

We strongly recommend all bharatnatyam dancers who are interested to go for this course provided you have the following :

  1. Zeal, patience, energy, money (investment in INR), and proper planning to do so.
  2. You should have done bharatnatyam up-to varnam level and above at some point in your life to be able to handle this type of work. Arangetram is irrelevant.
    • Style of bharatnatyam will not matter for this particular degree because their program itself includes multiple styles.
    • You must submit videos of any of these with other degrees that you have to become eligible for this program.
    • Private classes with your guide will be required to get your smoothly through this journey with deadlines, protocols to be followed and your guide will help you with the following as well :
      • if you have learned your bharatnatyam in non-traditional or conventional ways or you had several breaks through out your learning, or nattavangams, ragam, talam were not part of your training then you will have to educate yourself with these.
      • Nattuvangam, Recitation of Jatis and Adavus are graded.
      • In-person practicals, concerts participation is required. Must be ready to showcase all of above or as asked with full costume, makeup, hair-do; irrespective of any help available. Makeup artist may/may not be available.
  3. Expect morning 9am to 5pm dance routines and as you get closer to exams it will be 9am to 11pm practice hours. If you have any physical disability, come with doctor’s note or do not apply!
  4. List/selections of locations, accommodation to be take care by you while these will be required during your on campus trainings and all exams.
    • Paid meals 3 times a day at the campus canteen and everything is available around the area.
  5. Most important-you should be ready to go for a month (average of 20 days approx and add 2 more days to get the feel of area and shopping for your concert). Attendance is strictly required during all the days for the on-campus classes and exams. Best if you go both years. It will be worth a trip….
  6. Cons : Make sure you stay at the top of conversation with these people and get it all in writing, we had students who were marked absent even when they were present, we had students whose names and marks were printed wrong and lot of such issues.. Hetal managed to get out clean because she is from security background and so she has habit of keeping track of everything. Our owner is on the top of everything and that is how she is able to make a positive and inspiring difference in her students’ life.

Specifics are mentioned deliberately in detail as an effort to provide all the information that you may need as a student to apply! This blog post details were taken from articles submitted by Hetal Nagaraj to company.

Hetal Nagaraj says I did it and she will love to guide you to do it too! 

New Images Added : July 18, 2020.

Phone : 972 979 2559

Exclusive Copyrights by Reach Media for Hetal Joshi | Grace & Grooves | Grace Creations | Grace And Grooves 2012-2020.  This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. 

http://www.graceandgrooves.com        Phone : 972 979 2559       info@graceandgrooves.com

 

 

Grace And Grooves Annual Updates By Hetal Nagaraj

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Grace And Grooves Annual Updates | Hetal Joshi M, Hetal Nagaraj.

For research students/art enthusiasts and for dance credit interns – Pls contact Ms. Hetal : Here OR here directly.

Grace And Grooves holds exclusive rights for all the content & pictures being posted with permission of organizers for exclusive Grace And Groove use only. Exclusive Copyrights by Reachh Mediaa from 2013 for Hetal Joshi | Grace & Grooves | Grace Creations | Grace And Grooves 2012-current

All Pictures posted here are with an exclusive consent of participating students, parents or school staffs. This material can not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Recital 2018 – A Fusion Life of American Born Cultured Indian/Desi (ABCD)

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Recital 2018 – A Fusion Life of American Born Cultured Indian/Desi (ABCD)
Celebrating the Golden Era of Indian Cinema Through Dance

One of the distinctive creative elements of Recital 2018 – A Fusion Life of American-Born Cultured Indian/Desi (ABCD) was a special tribute to the Golden Era of Indian Cinema, celebrating the timeless music, storytelling, and choreography that influenced generations across India and beyond.

All of Hetal Joshi Nagaraj’s productions or recitals either have inspirations of her own childhood training years or story in the production itself.

Drama, Acting and Theater is heavily enforced in all the productions in various role play. Students commute to other locations for rehearsals just for these role play and acting scenes.

The production explored the evolution of Indian cinema and dance traditions across multiple decades:

  • 1950s
  • 1960s
  • 1970s
  • 1980s
  • And latest hits of 2017, 2018.

This era represented a remarkable period of cinematic creativity, where music, poetry, classical influences, folk traditions, and innovative choreography came together to create unforgettable cultural experiences.

A huge shift of modernization from traditional performing arts was showcased in every performance through year round trainings.

The showcase highlighted the diversity of Indian cinema across various languages, recognizing that India’s film heritage extends far beyond a single industry. Through different regional languages, musical styles, and storytelling traditions, Indian cinema has continuously reflected the country’s vast cultural landscape.

The performances traveled through a creative journey that included, through strict curriculam :

  • Semi-Classical Mujra-inspired presentations reflecting elegance, expression, and classical aesthetics
  • Traditional and regional Indian Folk Dance influences
  • Folk to Bollywood, whole era of Modernization influences were showcased on stage.
  • Cinematic dance interpretations inspired by India’s rich movie heritage
  • Bharatanatyam dances included rich literature performances evergreen to several cultures — other than margam performances were beautifully performed by Pre.Elites Levels of Students.
  • Bharatanatyam trends were also showcased through flairs of classical trainings by Elites of Hetal Joshi Nagaraj.
  • Contemporary and Desi Hip-Hop fusion, representing the artistic identity of younger generations growing up in a global environment
  • Last but not the least, Remix versions of various folk, classical and hiphop styles were showcased on 1 stage as a scene itself with a LIVE shoot for some future assignments.

The segment demonstrated how Indian dance has continuously evolved—from classical expressions and traditional folk movements to modern urban influences—while maintaining its cultural roots.

The creative vision, concept development, choreography, and overall direction of this production were led by Hetal Nagaraj, who designed the presentation to showcase the connection between generations, cultures, and artistic styles.

By combining historical cinematic influences with contemporary movement vocabulary, the performance celebrated how Indian performing arts continue to transform while preserving the emotions, stories, and traditions that define them.

This artistic journey represented the essence of ABCD – American-Born Cultured Indian/Desi: a generation that honors its heritage, understands its foundations, and confidently creates new expressions of culture for the future.

Story Line of 2018 Recital –

Recital 2018 had a story on the stage itself through performances –

  • Story was about a young Indian Boy who migrated to USA and gets married in USA embracing the cross culture environments.
  • The Entire production had a marvelous end with SRK Danceathon, annual students as young as 4 years to age 40 performed non stop.
  • The whole production is shown as a dream to young gentleman dreaming about USA and US girls until the fairy awakes him to reality. At the end, he takes away the desi-bride with Veer Zaara Style scene!

Role Play in the show – Hetal Nagaraj, Nirja, Ranveer, Ashna, Samarth.

The Legacy of Recital 2018

Recital 2018 – A Fusion Life of American-Born Cultured Indian/Desi (ABCD) was more than a dance showcase. It was a reflection of identity, cultural preservation, artistic education, and the evolving journey of Indian-origin youth growing up in America.

Through classical traditions, folk heritage, Bollywood storytelling, contemporary fusion, and community collaboration, Grace And Grooves demonstrated that culture is not something preserved only in the past—it is something continuously created by every generation.

Several students received their yearly achievement awards, nominations to various competitions and publications as well as Student of the year.

The production celebrated a simple belief:

When strong foundations meet creativity, heritage does not disappear—it evolves, expands, and shines on new stages.

Venue – Plano Courtyard Theater, Plano, Texas.

Students of Las Colinas, Plano 121-Mcdermott-Independence, Carrollton, and Stonebrair Mall Frisco Locations performed in this program. Exclusive to Hetal Joshi Nagaraj. Pre.Elites and Elites performed as well as part of their performances and curriculam assignments.

PR activities were planned before the show thus, partly Ticketted.

Audiences 300+ x 2 Seperate Audiences.

1st Half – Young Kids 1.5 hours.

Texas All Star Showcase – Ticketted 1 hour.

2nd Half – Elites, Teens and Up – Heavily Ticketted. 2.5 hours.

Main Sponsor of Entire Program – Former Owner of Nruthyakala Indian Folk Dance Academy – South Irving, Keller, Euless and Fortworth Areas., followed by permanent merger to Grace and Grooves.

Special Thanks :

  • Mishu Shastri-Dance, Ritu Kharbanda-Dance for their participation in Recital 2018, A Fusion Life of ABCD as guest performer with her own team/kids, 1 dance and 1 role play in danceathon.
    • All Star International Platforms – Not to confuse with Texas All Star Talents.
  • Arjun Iyer for Instruments – All Star International Platforms – Reachh Mediaa Invited Artist.
  • Kedar Golvelkar For Music on Guitar (Ankhon Mein Teri) – All Star International Platforms.
    • Pre-recorded Guitar on Aum Shanti Aum-tune and Ankhon Mein Teri.
  • Bhagwat Pandya For Sound Technician Services.
  • Nagaraj Kunchum as Master File Recording from Sound Room.
  • Service Provider – Dinesh – Deepthi’s Husband as assistant crew teams.
  • Ticketing Platforms – Meraticket.com, Eventbrite.com.
  • Raghavendra and Pavitra Bhat as Veer Zaraa Special Appearance – One of Ms. Hetal’s former couple package.
  • Refreshments Vendor – Chennai Cafe – Richardson-Frisco.
Picture Gallery

At Grace And Grooves, each recital and production represents more than a public performance—it serves as an important milestone in a student’s artistic journey.

Students demonstrate the knowledge, technique, discipline, and performance skills they have acquired throughout the year, progressing toward higher levels of learning and responsibility. In many ways, every recital functions as a practical graduation, where students advance not only in technical ability but also in confidence, stage presence, teamwork, leadership, and artistic maturity.

As students grow, so do our faculty. This continuous cycle of learning, mentorship, performance, and leadership development is fundamental to the Grace And Grooves philosophy, ensuring that every production contributes to the long-term growth of both artists and educators.

Related Posts

  1. Recitals, Productions, In House Shows of Hetal Joshi Nagaraj.
  2. Time Line of Grace And Grooves Corp.
  3. Milestones of Company.
  4. Levels
  5. Elites
  6. Elite Lines.
Call NOW : 972 979 2559.
  1. Grace And Grooves Company’s Platform
  2. Hetal Joshi Nagaraj Platform, Grace And Grooves Corp promos and own such other.
  3. Rang Folk Dance Productions By Hetal Joshi Nagaraj
  4. Sarva Folk Dance Productions By Hetal Joshi Nagaraj
  5. Anantha Classical Dance Productions by Hetal Joshi Nagaraj.
  6. March Madness Recitals By Hetal Joshi Nagaraj
  7. Drama Recitals By Hetal Joshi Nagaraj.
  8. Model Productions By Hetal Joshi Nagaraj.
  9. Shoot Productions Exclusive for PR, as of July 31, 2026.
  10. List of In House Dance Productions with LIVE Audiences, Stage and Recitals of Hetal Joshi Nagaraj.

972 979 2559.

Website : www.graceandgrooves.com

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/GraceAndGrooves

Twitter : https://twitter.com/GraceAndGrooves

Youtube Channel :https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSbZYIr0EPzrfPNzH_0FcVw

— Do not copy any word, concept or any ideology, verbiage, picture , any clip or dance, or any wordings of Ms Hetal as it is full trademarked, some copyright received and some ip too, by country – 2012-current

Post Updated : March 15 2018, Jan 2 2020.

 

 

 

 

Student of The Year….Updated Yearly!

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Grace And Grooves Group – Student Of The Year –

Internal Company – Leadership Awards

2025 – 2026 – Jr. Digivijay – 21+ Student of Year – Arlington-Texas, New York – New Jersey, California. Endorsed.

2024 – 2025 – Jinal Shah’s Family Member – Student of the Year – New York – DFW. Endorsed.

2023 – 2024 – Jinal Shah – 21+ Student of the Year – USA, UK. Endorsed.

2022 – 2023 – Name To be received from teams. Records under review.

2021 – 2022 – Aayan Ale – currently under endorsement. Student graduated in the same year of 2022 during the stalled systems mess in g2.

2020 – 2021 : Aahana : 

  • whatsapp-image-2021-08-31-at-11.03.24-am-3Aahana is a student of Hetal Nagaraj Dance, Hetal Nagaraj from 2012 (she was almost 5 years old) for half dozen Indian Folk dances(100+ hours) & Bollywood(250+hr) & has taken several courses with Grace And Grooves Group of Dance Companies (350 +) hours with us in general. Aahana is a vivacious 11 year old from Frisco Texas. She’s a 6th grader in Frisco, Texas, USA. She is currently taking advance training of Kalaripayattu & Contemporary (surpassed 30+ hr NEW each) with Ms.Hetal(in-person) & Manoj Sir(online). She has won several city & state level non-voting competitions under Hetal Nagaraj nominating her for several state level participations and competitions. ALL of which were non-voting. Her other dance accomplishments include, city and state level bollywood, indian folk and semi-classical winning streaks with Hetal Nagaraj as part of company performances and submissions. Nominated several times for state level programs as well to come and perform but due to exam times, she could not go.
  • Aahana’s other accomplishments include several sports, educational, arts/drawing awards by grade and she won a honorary mention for her reflections art work at Ani Hols elementary school. Current Student at School of rock training in Vocals ( rock music ) Age 6 to 10. Her Facebook page was established in 2020 under the leadership & training of Hetal Nagaraj with Reachh Mediaa Reachh Since 2013.
  • Under Hetal Nagaraj, she also earned her first international award from Mumbai, India. See here.
  • She receives 300$ worth of prizes from our friends and participating companies. Yet another example set here!

2019-2020 : Sindhu Jampala :

SindhuStudentoftheYear2019-2020

Sindhu Jampala comes with package, 2019-2020! Congratulations!!!

  • Ms. Sindhu started her trainings in August 2014 for recreational Bollywood classes in Irving, Texas under Hetal Nagaraj when she was mother of 1. Later, she was trained with Ms. Deepthi & Hetal together.
  • She started her journey with her full time IT job, at times on-call and all the other family commitments. Performing and then graduating after being “a mother of 2” NOW. She has participated in lot of our recitals, dance productions and has been part of our growing family! From Sarvaa 2019, she has been contributing towards company shows by being choreographer for her own kids team with full responsibility from start to finish under the leadership of Hetal Nagaraj.
  • Lot of her dances were selected for form/Bharatanatyam/folk category even when submitted in open category only because we had used Bollywood song but organizers moved us!! While others were pure bollyhop and fun dances that she continues to do today with her teams. With their Irving & Carrollton teams, they made it to several local non-voting competitions for Bollywood categories & a few reality dance competitions across cities for bollywood traditional to bollyhop.
  • Read about her trainings at Grace And Grooves.
  • She receives gift hampers and services worth of 250$ from our friends and participating companies. Sindhu has set an example for lot of our full time working young mommies with extended families that there will be a year that’s going to be mine from start to finish :). She finally took it in 2019-2020 with family. #respect.

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2018-2019 : Aanya Kocchar :

  • Ms. Aanya Kocchar joined Grace And Grooves as an exclusive Bharatnatyam Student in 2015 when we started teaching structured Bharatnatyam Program at Lewisville, Texas under the guru-shishya parampara with Mrs. Hetal Nagaraj exclusively.
  • When it comes to balancing life with education, performing arts and all the other activities that kids have to take up today just to achieve normal expectancy as per school curriculum, it has never been easy! 
  • As per our Student of the year criteria, she has been an excellent role model to all our younger Bharatanatyam dancers who will look upon her an example going forward. Never Give Up because learning an art-form is never easy and there are NO SHORT-CUTS.
  • Aanya has performed with Grace And Grooves in several in-house dance productions with her exclusive Bharatnatyam Dances without forsaking fundamentals of her own art-form Bharatanatyam for all our recitals, community events as well as exclusively Hetal Nagaraj’s dance productions.
  • Her notable dances are Bharatnatyam Nruthyam-Gujarati Sahitya Dance Duet (Literature) and Hetal Nagaraj’s Master Degree university level work of exclusive Bharatnatyam-Pushpanjali, and Allaripu(main margam items). She continues to learn her next level in Bharatnatyam at Lewisville, Texas with Mrs. Hetal Nagaraj and is now a 5th Grader. We are so proud of you!
  • Nominated twice for International Gujarati Culture Awards as well as community awards and earned her place in gifted folk programs at Nruthyakala Folk Dance Academy.
  • She receives $200 worth of services from our partners and friend-businesses to excel in her interest in the journey of Bharatanatyam. One Step At A Time, Nice And Easy. Updated : Jan 11, 2019.
  • Aanya was student from March 2015 to November 1, 2019.
    • During Jatiswaram Level from Mid-August 2019 onwards, she started coming once a month only which was slowing down entire batch. Student was unable to attend minimum 4 classes a month/do any other make-up classes/take any other private classes to catch up to her class-mates or atleast take other parallel classes;all of which was given well-ahead of time as per convinience of all parents. Parents were contacted regularly every month about the absences via emails/phones-sms and calls. Parents were regularly requested to move to slower pace class or lower level class (just to keep it going until she is ready for her batch) which did not happen either.
    • Later, in November 1, 2019 when their payment plan ended and it was time to renew, parents were requested to renew their payment plan only when student is able to attend classes regularly or choose any of options above or do private classes for good.  This schedule expectation of regularly attending the class for this accelerated-level is excluding holiday schedules or extra practice schedules or makeup class schedules. All of these instructions are given well-ahead of time at the beginning of year itself. It is our policy from past 15 years!
    • Updated : December 26, 2020. Aanya was in accelerated class of year-round lessons with full holiday schedule and dates provided well ahead of time as per full time – working – parents – holiday schedule. We are year round dance school.

IMG_58232017-2018 : Samarth Setty 

  • His first dance was a valentine dance with girl at the age of 3.5 where he showed his ability to act, dance & make people laugh/smile by showing his natural dance skills, dance etiquettes that were taught to him by his Montessori teachers.
  • Stage presence was natural to him just like his sister.
  • Our little macho man had his struggles of taking breaks in learning dance because of his birth weight, body type but he never gave up. 
  • From a husky body type to making his body a lean-mean fat-burning machine, he has amazed us of what he could do with proper training, discipline and diet plans that his mom prepares for him.
  • His official journey of dance training in Indian Folk Dances started at the age of 6, Bharatnatyam at the age of 7, Bollywood at the age of 7 and then he never looked back! Prior to these years, he would appear on stage as side/back stage-dancer.
  • Amongst all our girls, at times he is the only Krishna, Shiva, captain, our Rahul who comes to save the day for lot of our group dances even when he is not dancing for full song. At times he is not instructed of what he needs to do except for dance steps if they were to match with group..it comes out naturally to him, without training and knowledge of dance forms/styles.(Environment)
  • From group dance dramas to Solo(s) in Bharatnatyam, Indian Folk Dances and Bollywood/Movie Dances, he has done it all. He has successfully performed, competed and won competitions as solo artist from 2nd place to 3rd place with only 1 hour a week of dance lessons.
  • His training teachers are : 
  • His workshops include : Intermediate-Advance Workshop with Shakti Mohan-2015.
  • He is a perfect example of perseverance, inherited natural talent, stage presence and a best example for kids who feel like giving up, only because of body-type.
  • He receives photo-shoots worth $250, competition discounts and several other perks from our participating businesses.
  • His Facebook page was established in 2019 under the leadership & training of Hetal Nagaraj with Reachh Mediaa Reachh Since 2013. Read More About Samarth Setty.
  • Updated-Feb 13-2018, Sept 1-2021.

Ashna Pethe – 2016-2017

  • From recreational dancer(Age-10) to now our elite team dancer and this years’ 1st

    Ashna Pethe Student of the Year

    Congratulations! Student of The Year 2016!!

  • prize winner in Non-Classical-Category(Bollywood). Lewisville-Texas. Now 13.
  • Locations of Workshops, Performances & Competitions : Southlake-Texas, Irving-Texas, Dallas-Texas, Lewisville-Texas, Frisco-Texas, Plano-Texas, Carrollton-Texas.
  • Ashna won A $200 gift hamper that includes a photo-shoot and a FREE professional profiling and several free perks from Grace And Grooves LLC.
  • A perfect example of no short-cuts to success and yet balancing it beautifully with unbeatable graceful performances. 
  • She has bagged 1st place in non-classical category and has cleared several competitions in state of Texas. (Update-September 29, 2017).
  • Ashna dances 1-2 hours a week Bollywood at Elite Level w/Elite Team for Grace And Grooves, paid and unpaid performances.
  • She has taken advance workshops with Hetal Nagaraj, Mansi Chauhan And Shakti Mohan for Indian Folk Dances, Professional Bharatnatyam, Professional Kathak and Contemporary. 
  • Her Facebook page was established in 2019 under the leadership & training of Hetal Nagaraj with Reachh Mediaa Reachh Since 2013. Coming Soon About Ashna Pethe.
  • Updated Sept 1-2021.

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Congratulations! Student of the year 2015!!

Diya Kadiyala, 2015-2016.

  • First Indian Folk Dance Solo Artist under the age of 5 (under official company name Grace And Grooves other than Nirja Setty) successfully performed 3.2 minute of Indian Folk Dance. Twice!!
  • Audience : 100 People. Selected/Cleared Auditions for 2 different competitions in 2015. Irving-Texas. Age 4.5. Now 6.
  • Locations of Performances : Irving-Texas, Dallas-Texas, Frisco-Texas.
  • You are a perfect example of following directions just as taught at such a young age that too in Indian Folk Dances.
  • Diya took Free private classes(2) worth $50 during the regular classes. A Free costume rental on our elite line of costumes and a waive off on registration fees for second year. ($30).

Student of the Year 2015

Congratulations!! Student of the year 2014

 Nirja Setty, 2014-2015.

  • Winner of 6 (now 6) technique focused Indian Dance Competitions in Indian Folk Dances, Fusion and Bharatnatyam(2016). 
  • Nirja won Free Costumes and Jewelry from one of our friend-sponsors worth $100. Free Tickets to concert-$30.
  • A girl known to challenge judges’ knowledge in competitions as compared to her age group. Irving, Lewisville-Texas. Age 9. NOW 11. 
  • You are a perfect example of perfect expressions/looks in Indian Performing arts-anytime a picture is taken and yet it just as graceful and beautiful. All of this with a beautiful balance in life!
  • Her average competition prize money amounted to $200-$300 by 2015 in various school competitions for Bharatnatyam and Indian Folk Dances. Her audience is not less than 1000 people for the dances she has performed.
  • Nirja regularly dances 1-hour a week in : Bharatnatyam(in 2 styles), Bollywood and Indian Folk Dances with Hetal Nagaraj and Alpana Jacob (outside Grace And Grooves LLC).
  • Locations of Workshops, Performances & Competitions : Southlake-Texas, Irving-Texas, Dallas-Texas, Lewisville-Texas, Frisco-Texas, Plano-Texas, Carrollton-Texas, Allen-Texas, Coppell-Texas, Grapevine-Texas, Flowermound-Texas, Arlington-Texas.
  • She has taken advance workshops with Mansi Chauhan, Hetal Nagaraj and Shakti Mohan for Professional Kathak and Contemporary. She has also danced National Level Competition Fogana 2013 w/Indu Mangrola-Sursangam Dance Company. 
  • Her Facebook page was established in 2019 under the leadership & training of Hetal Nagaraj with Reachh Mediaa Reachh Since 2013. Read More About Nirja Setty.
  • Updated-Sept 1-2021.

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Congratulations!! Student of the year 2013!!

Srinija Burra, 2013-2014 :

  • Outstanding Recreational Indian Folk Dance Artist – (Solo) Recreational Folk Program.
  • Audiences from 100 to 500 People. Irving-Texas. Age 6. NOW 11.
  • Srinija won Free Customized Costumes from our elite line of costumes and Free Tickets to performances worth $75.
  • Won competitions with Grace And Grooves LLC as in group for Indian Folk Dances held Dallas-Texas at Coppell-Texas, Plano-Texas, Allen-Texas.
  • Locations of Performances & Competitions : Southlake-Texas, Irving-Texas, Dallas-Texas, Lewisville-Texas, Frisco-Texas, Plano-Texas, Carrollton-Texas, Allen-Texas, Coppell-Texas, Grapevine-Texas, Flowermound-Texas, Arlington-Texas.
  • Selected in several auditions and competitions for Solos. Selected by several media and top-notch family/event/corporate-dance and professional photographers for individual profiling/close-ups during our community performances without our telling them or informing them. She was also part of Fusion team being an avid gymnasts student. Click here : 
  • You are a perfect example of perfect expressions/looks anytime a picture is taken and yet it just as graceful and beautiful.

Congratulations to ALL our students of the year! 

Thank you for working hard with us…

This post will be updated once a year. Our academic year goes from August To May.

Post Updated History : This Post was First Published on this Blog on September 25, 2017.

Pictures posted above are either past or present students of Grace and Grooves & their pictures are shared based on their exclusive photo sharing rights and approved by parents when shared/transferred to Grace And Grooves for the purpose of Grace and Grooves ONLY.  
Copyright Reach Media for Grace And Grooves | Grace Creations | 2012-current. This material cannot be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Competitions Counted On Our Lists :

Imagegraceandgrooves group by hetal joshi Leave a comment

The Competitions & Performances that we go have Judges with following qualifications with full transparency required for students to be eligible such as submitting videos, pictures, program specs, and all the other details :

  1. Degrees in Performing Arts (Indian for Indian Dances),
  2. Straight Background With Full Proof & Traceability,
  3. Versatile Dancers In Their Genre  – Non Stop Stage Dancers.
  4. Full Hands-Onn w/Knowledge From Right Sources ( traceable background or universities-not the universities such as gandharv.)

Competitions We Do :

As such we have won several competitions but we have only accounted in our bags that we have done it independently ourselves and have judges who are qualified in field of Indian Performing Arts-who know what to look for in dance forms or styles, if mentioned likewise.

  • Non-Voting, Strict by Genre, Category, Dance Forms, Rules of Dance Form, Rubrics, Guidelines, Marks and Feedbacks by Judges with straight background, Local or International Depending on all of above.
  • Competitions in partnership with other dance schools/teachers are NOT INCLUDED in our list.
  • We do not sponsor the awards or competitions that we take part in. Please contact hetal at mail2hets@gmail.com for sponsorships.
  • We do not do reality competitions YET. These are not institutionalized or educational competitions.
  • Competitions where voting criteria is 10/100 or more at any levels are not included in our list. You are welcome to take freelance lessons from us to participate but we will not participate in voting. We will not take those on our list.
  • Judges who do not have any knowledge of dance or cannot outline the difference between simple things such as bollywood vs folk, fusion vs bollywood, and so on! If you do not know the rules of dance form then there is no point in judging. And so, we do not take part in those competitions.
  • Participant Awards are NOT listed or considered for us-obviously and that includes students who get participant awards during competitions just for participating and not winning competitions for any runner ups awards either. Culture awards are not competition awards 🙂
  • Wins at the Competitions that misrepresented categories/competitions/malrepresentation by the organizers are NOT listed.
    • Eg-Represented as Indian FOLK Competition but it was actually a Bollywood Competition and so they are NOT LISTED HERE. We have won such competitions as well.
    • Only legitimate competitions are listed.
    • We DO NOT teach Tap/Jazz/Ballet. Students who took part in fusion dances that included tap/jazz or ballet were trained from Ballet Academy of Texas(Coppell) and Prestige Dance Company(Lewisville-former Coppell Dance Center)for 2months+ or were already avid trained dancers or good gymnasts.
      • We taught them only Indian Classical Dance(Bharatnatyam)or Indian Folk Dance and the Fusion work to go together based on what they knew.
    • Some competitions are listed together as only 1 award was given for consecutive years win or in same year as prizes had material gifts/or gift cards for participants or same work received awards in 2 different places by different participants or same participants. There was only 1 ceremony for awards that happened.
    • Competitions that are not worth our attention –>
      • Students are neglected, mis-treated, insulted by organizers are NOT worth of our time. We will pass their info-you are welcome to compete but keep us out of it.
      • Organizers are in favor of other dance schools and allowed several re-takes to them but not to us-for no good reason are NOT worth our time. We DO NOT want children to go through that traumatic experiences.
      • Students are questioned about their well-being priorities only because organizer couldn’t see the child winning in-spite of stopping the vote entries are NOT worth of your child’s time.
      • Organizers that offer inappropriate stage areas, dressing room areas or unsafe dance conditions are eliminated from our list for any future participations due to SAFETY GUIDELINES concerning child’s safety. We don’t come there to dance in 5-8 steps of stage area.
      • A stage or organizer who cannot respect a child’s presence while talking just about anything that they have in mind insulting kids and their parents whatsoever, esp. talking in extremely loud voice and misbehaving in front of children because you couldn’t handle pressures (while others were allowed to do same-all drama in front of child)-is not worth our attention.

Please learn your manners FIRST when you treat a child.

Stop treating them like trash — this tells us about your parenting! Not our parents’.

      • An organizer who is bias to us in all the privileges given to other participants will not need our attention at any given point of time. If you have made up your mind in not allowing us to avail the privileges then why should we make kids suffer through your misconduct and inappropriate behavior just for a trophy ?

Constructive feedbacks are very welcomed. We have come this far only because of constructive feedbacks. Please tell us your background before you judge!

All of above are NOT sarcastic humor incidents and are ruled out by experiences in recent competitions and we do not want any child to face such a traumatic experience just for a competition! Our kids/students are very precious to us. 

Other Blog Posts where such a traumatic incident happened : Read Here.

Stop blaming parents and kids for your own issues. Open Stats @Cqunce Inc.

This post was updated in May 15, 2019 | May 22, 2021.

Exclusive Copyrights by Reach Media for Hetal Joshi | Grace & Grooves | Grace Creations | Grace And Grooves 2012-2021.  This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.